Domes - Our Monthly Newsletter
Dunbar UCC
January 21, 2007
I Corinthians 12:12-21, 26-31
The Excellent Way
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I read an article in the New York Times magazine about children with a condition called Asperger Syndrome. I know someone with this condition. When he liked something, he knew everything about it. Once while I drove down Dixwell with him, I pointed to a Ford Van (I knew he liked these) and said: “That’s a nice-looking one, isn’t it.” He said: “It’s a 2001 Ford Econoline standard model. It weighs 6,700 pounds and comes with a 4.2 liter, 6 cylinder, 191 horsepower engine.” “That’s pretty nice,” I said. He said: “If you want more power, order an auxiliary fuel port. It also comes with antilock brakes and has an axle ratio of 3.55, which is .019 more than a Chevy Van.” Finally, he said, “You can buy one for $19,281, but for $400 more, I’d get the 6-disc-in-dash CD player. And if you’re going to do that, you might as well pay $300.00 more and get the 15 inch bright cast aluminum wheels.”
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I was amazed at my friend’s gift for details. But here’s what the problem is. Though someone with Asperger Syndrome can tell you the name of every person on the Titanic, and their birthday -- they probably can’t read the face of the person they’re talking to. Hans Asperger said: “They become fixated on things that evoke their curiosity, but not always in a life-enhancing way. They can’t feel what another person is feeling; they can’t see themselves as part of a larger community.”
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This can happen to us too. We can get stuck in our own view of the world and not see the larger picture. The apostle Paul was having these problems with the church at Corinth. The church was divided. There were rich members, and poor. There were intellectuals, working-class, young, and old. And every group had their own leader and wanted to do things their own way -- they couldn’t work together. The Corinthian church was like a roomful of Asperger children, each focused on his or her own project -- and they were missing the main point of what a church is: following Christ and his command to practice love.
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In the next chapter of his letter -- chapter 13 -- Paul says, “I will show you a more excellent way.” Then he tries to say what love is. We are here to learn this more excellent way. The details are important -- the budget, the committees, the boards, the meetings. How we decide to be a church. But love is the rudder that needs to be guiding this ship. If it is, we have nothing to fear. We may not know exactly where we’re going -- but we’re moving in the right direction.